The Underground
 | “I can't get over how small you are!” This article is a stub. As such, it is not complete. You can help Portal wiki by expanding it. |
The Underground is a Machinima series animated by Gleb Lvov that is featured on YouTube. In it, there is a core called the Interview Core who started a talk-show where "the rejected are respected and the best-case has no place." It takes place in two forgotten locations within Aperture Science. Currently, there are 5 released episodes, and features a cast consisting of new cores, a turret band, the Mainframe and the Party Escort Bot.
The Cast
| Character | Gender | Voiced by |
|---|---|---|
| Interview Core | Male | Andrew Walker |
| Anthony | Male | Mitchell McLeod |
| Paranoia Core | Female | Jennifer Tonna |
| Protocol Core | Male | Mitchell McLeod |
| Elite Core | Male | Peter Bird |
| Ambition Core | Male | Michael Ferretti |
| Ego Core | Male | Sean Oxspring |
| The Mainframe | Male | Harry Callaghan |
| Party Escort Bot | #UNKNOWN# | Sound Files used from Portal |
Interview Core
| “ | Don't flatter yourself, you never were a functioning part of anything.
— Ego Core describing the Interview Core
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The Interview Core is a corrupted personality core who appears in all episodes of the series. He escaped incineration by GLaDOS and somehow found himself on a table, setting the literal stage for the talk-show. As the host of The Underground, the Interview Core is responsible for interviewing his guests and giving answers to his (possibly empty) audience.
Anthony (and The Band)
| “ | Why don't we ever get anyone more intelligent, introspective. Someone like... me! I think it's because of you. Yeah, you're just driving them all away with all your sulking.
— Interview Core to Anthony about the lack of good guests
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Anthony and The Fritz Brothers Band is a trio of turrets, two of which are defective. Anthony is portrayed with a much more deeper voice than normal turrets. Anthony was to wed a turret named Alice, but was rejected in favor of a regular, fully functional, turret.
Paranoia Core
| “ | I know there's a hidden chamber full of mantis men!
— Paranoia Core
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The Paranoia Core is a corrupted personality core who appears in the first episode of the series. She is suspicious of all things, and speaks like the stereotypical conspiracy theorist, saying that it knows of "secret walls [being built] in the dead of night in secret to house all the secret boxes that contain files of all the secret rooms where all the real secrets are being kept."
Some time after the first episode, the Paranoia Core is fitted to a new frame and, in effect, "becomes" the Party Escort Bot from Portal.
Protocol Core
| “ | I'm not defective, I'm special.
— Protocol Core
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The Protocol Core is a corrupted personality core who appears in the second episode of the series. He is very knowledgeable about all Enrichment Center policies and was "hand"-picked by GLaDOS to enforce "all of her wonderful regulations." The Protocol Core is under the idea that it was created to be perfect, and as such, denies being corrupted despite being in placed into an Emergency Intelligence Incinerator prior to the episode.
After the interview, he is brought before the Mainframe and disappears into a shaft underneath it.
Ambition Core
| “ | Just your typical everyday difficulties when dozens of human skulls get in the vents, you know, it happens all the time.
— Ambition Core
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The Ambition Core is a corrupted personality core who appears in the fourth episode of the series.
After the interview, he is attached to The Mainframe.
Ego Core
| “ | It's not every day Aperture builds a core like me. Perfect! Inside and out.
— Ego Core
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The Ego Core, or Onathan, is a corrupted personality core who appears in the fifth episode of the series. Before the events of The Underground, he worked with the Interview Core processing test subjects. Onathan describes himself as more intelligent and superior to the other cores, but is quite narcissistic.After the interview, he was attached to the Mainframe, as the Mainframe "could use an ego boost".
The Mainframe
| “ | Hm. I don't like him.
— The Mainframe about the Protocol Core
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The Mainframe is a somewhat enigmatic character in the series. After each interview, the cores are sent to him. Anything the Mainframe dislikes, from cores to sitcoms, go down a trapdoor controlled by him. The cores the Mainframe accepts are attached to him, in a manner not unlike GLaDOS and her cores.
Gallery
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Trivia
• The Underground is written by Gleb Lvov, Mitchell McLeod, and Andrew Walker. • Anthony's 'arm' falls off while performing a rimshot, which plays a role in a set of gags in the second episode.
• Anthony is later knocked to the ground by the Ambition core.